Rumor: PalmSource to launch Palm OS Rhinestone

Rumors out of Sunnyvale, California indicate that PalmSource, Inc., provider of Palm OS, a leading operating system powering next generation mobile devices and smarpthones, will soon be introducing a new version of their operating system optimized for the very young consumer (VYC) market. PIC has obtained some possible device pictures and early details about the new OS.

Called Palm OS Rhinestone, the new operating system is a major departure from previous versions of the OS. It appears to be a non-software based operating system designed to run on devices with no memory or CPU.

Key features of Palm OS Rhinestone include:

Vibrant, static user interface

"Magic Slate" write-on-screen technology

Button-activated multimedia frameworks for audio playback

Real smartphone look and feel

Robust compatibility with previous sticker-based applications

The rumor includes pictures of some Palm OS Rhinestone devices that may already be in production. The pictures seem to indicate that PalmSource's new licensees would include Fisher-Price and Imperial. The pictures also show what may be the first true tablet-based Palm OS device with a low-resolution boot screen.

PalmInfocenter will have more on this story as it develops...

UPDATE:
Happy April fools! Many thanks goes out to the clever folks at PalmSource that came up with Palm OS Rhinestone!

Nice, but...

OS Rhinestone is nice, but I've never quite got the hang of the draw-on-tablet. I prefer MS YPC with it's Etch-A-Sketch interface. I mean, it's so much better to shake-to-erase than drag some lever thing...

RE: Nice, but...

RE: Nice, but...

forget that, will it be pocketable? i won't buy this at all unless it's pocketable... and maybe we should let them work out the kinks in this first, who knows what kind of cheap quality dangerous magnets they'er using.

Screen res?!?!?

RE: Screen res?!?!?

and Nagel's probably convening a meeting right now there in Sunnyvale, asking his marketing team for a market strata report on the VYC buying segment. Buying habits, trends, demographics ("who really controls the pocketbook for a 7 yr old"), and demanding why the Rhinestone took so long to bring to market?!? Must have been the graphite and magnet suppliers in China.

Yeah, but what a price!

RE: Yeah, but what a price!

Actually, the was a report in the WSJ that Mattel and Microsoft where almost complete in their negotiations to introduce a new product range. Barbie and Hotwheels themed PDAs where mentioned, but the inside scoop was the TALK TO BARBIE SmartPhone being introduced as part of a collaboration between LG, Mattel, and MS.

I wish them luck, Nokia tried this with their Symbian based TALK TO HEIDI phone last year released by Lego.

No wifi?

I would consider purchasing a Palm OS Rhinestone device for my 18 month old niece for her 2nd birthday but with out a 16-bit hi-res+ screen, wifi and bluetooth, and a built-in MP3 player, I am afraid that this will be a downgrade for her compared to her current Tungsten T3.

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